Dutch Destinations: Giethoorn and Texel

I realized that I never went back and wrote posts about the weekend trips Matt and I took to a couple of new-to-us places in the Netherlands last year, so here we go! The pandemic travel restrictions were quite strict in spring of 2021 but we weren't about to let that dampen our adventuring spirits. … Continue reading Dutch Destinations: Giethoorn and Texel →

Paris: Back to Where It All Began

Since Matt had a few more days off from work after we got back from spending Christmas in Malta, we took a short 2 night trip to Paris just before New Years. The high-speed train between Rotterdam and Paris takes only 2 hours 40 minutes which makes it so convenient to get there from the … Continue reading Paris: Back to Where It All Began →

The One Where I Met Up with My Cousins in Rome

I come from a pretty small family (just one uncle on my mom's side and one aunt and cousin on my dad's side). This means that connections with even distant relatives mean a lot! A beautiful example of a time this played out was getting to meet up with my second cousins in Rome back … Continue reading The One Where I Met Up with My Cousins in Rome →

Greece-d Lightning

The pandemic-related travel restrictions have meant that opportunities to have friends and family visit from the USA have been much fewer and further between than expected over the past 20 months. Hence, it is all-the-more special when people are able to visit! In October, two of our wonderful friends from Columbus, Melanie and Calah, were … Continue reading Greece-d Lightning →

An Island Christmas in Malta

Matt and I have done something different each of the three holiday seasons we've lived on this side of the Atlantic: our first year was "cold European Christmas" (i.e., our trip through Berlin/Dresden/Leipzig and Prague), the second year was "home for Christmas" (i.e., going back to the USA to spend the holiday with family), and … Continue reading An Island Christmas in Malta →

A Weekend in Copenhagen

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has been on the list of cities we'd like to see while in Europe for awhile. So in October (before the Scandinavian weather got too chilly) we decided to take a long weekend and visit! The first impression that we both had when walking from the train station to the … Continue reading A Weekend in Copenhagen →

Norway, Land of Hiking and Vikings – Part 3/3 (Voss, Oslo)

This is the first time I've had to split a trip into three blog posts - just too many great pictures and stories to share! Hardangerfjord CruiseOur route from Odda to Voss began with taking a ferry up the Hardangerfjord. Although the surrounding mountains were not quite as dramatic as our Nærøyfjord cruise (in part … Continue reading Norway, Land of Hiking and Vikings – Part 3/3 (Voss, Oslo) →

Norway, Land of Hiking and Vikings – Part 2/3 (Aurlandsvangen, Odda)

Haha, I quickly realized that our Norway trip is going to turn into a three-section post, so here we go with part #2! AURLANDSVANGENWe left off the story with Matt and I taking the bus from Flåm to Aurlandsvangen, a quiet village on the banks of the Aurlandsfjord. The total population is just over 800 … Continue reading Norway, Land of Hiking and Vikings – Part 2/3 (Aurlandsvangen, Odda) →

Norway, Land of Hiking and Vikings – Part 1/3 (Stavanger, Bergen)

Norway has been at the very top of my bucket-list of places to visit while we live in Europe. We had planned a trip there last summer but literally one week before we were supposed to leave, Norway changed their COVID-19 restrictions for people entering from the Netherlands so we weren't able to go anymore … Continue reading Norway, Land of Hiking and Vikings – Part 1/3 (Stavanger, Bergen) →

Croatia – Part 2/2 (Trogir, Krka National Park, Plitvice Lakes, and Zagreb)

Make sure you didn't miss my previous post about the first half of our Croatia trip... here goes part two! Part 3 - Trogir In making our way from Hvar Island to Trogir, we started by taking a ferry to Split. Split is the second largest city in Croatia behind the capital, Zagreb. Split is … Continue reading Croatia – Part 2/2 (Trogir, Krka National Park, Plitvice Lakes, and Zagreb) →